2005 - Elizabeth Loftus

A psychologist noted for her study of human memory and how it can be altered
has won the 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.

Nov. 30, 2004

A psychologist noted for her study of human memory and how it can be altered
has won the 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.

The fifth awarding of the $200,000 prize for outstanding ideas in the field
of psychology is to Elizabeth Loftus, whose research on false recollections and
the reliability of eyewitness reports and memories “recovered” through therapy
has affected the way law enforcement agencies and the court system view such
testimony.

The psychologist has shown that people not only forget but also falsely
remember, meaning that they sincerely and vividly can recall events that never
happened when information suggested to them becomes entwined with their memory
of what actually happened. She points out that the individual may not be able to
separate the real threads of memory from the added strands of suggestion.

Loftus' research has implications for law and for psychotherapy's methods of
probing memory. Interest in both has led to her popularity as a speaker, author,
journal editorial board member and expert trial witness. She has testified or
consulted in many nationally publicized cases, including trials involving
Michael Jackson, Rodney King and the Oklahoma City bombing. Her many honors
include both of the American Psychological Society's top awards and an American
Psychological Association award; she also has been elected to the National
Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

About Elizabeth Loftus

Elizabeth Loftus -- known for her study of how memories can be reshaped into
false recollections -- is distinguished research professor at University of
California-Irvine, with positions in its psychology and social behavior
department, criminology, law and society department and cognitive sciences
department. She also is a fellow of UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of
Learning and Memory.

She has been an expert witness or consultant in hundreds of high-profile
legal cases, including trials of the officers accused in the Rodney King beating
and cases involving Michael Jackson, the “Hillside Strangler,” the Menendez
brothers, Abscam and the Oklahoma City bombing case.

Loftus earned her psychology doctoral (1970) and master's (1967) degrees from
Stanford University and her bachelor's degree in mathematics and psychology
(1966) from the University of California-Los Angeles. She also has honorary
doctorates from Miami University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Leiden
University in the Netherlands and University of Portsmouth in England; the
latter university endowed a research dissertation prize in forensic psychology
in her name this year.

She served on the New School University's graduate faculty before joining the
University of Washington's faculty in 1973; she taught psychology and law at
Washington for 29 years. Loftus also has been a visiting faculty member at
Harvard University, University of Nevada and Georgetown University. Academic
fellowships included three at Stanford and one at Harvard.

The Phi Beta Kappa member was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
this year and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American
Academy of Political and Social Sciences last year. The 1998-99 president of the
American Psychological Society, Loftus also received its William James fellow
award and James McKeen Cattell fellow award for lifetime contributions; the
American Psychological Association gave her its distinguished scientific award
for applications of psychology. She is the president of the Western
Psychological Association.

Loftus has written or co-authored 20 books, including “The Myth of Repressed
Memory,” “Eyewitness Testimony: Civil & Criminal,” “Psychology,” “Witness
for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness and the Expert Who Puts Memory on
Trial” and “Human Memory: The Processing of Information.” A frequent public
speaker, she also has served on editorial boards of many academic journals and
has published more than 350 scientific articles.

Besides her publications, Loftus has served as consultant for the U.S.
Department of Justice, U.S. Secret Service, Internal Revenue Service, Federal
Trade Commission, General Services Administration and the Law Reform Commission
of Canada and for attorneys and other legal professionals in 34 U.S. states and
numerous other countries.

The National Institutes of Health, the National
Institute of Mental Health, National Science Foundation, National Center for
Health Services Research, National Bureau of Standards and Fund for Research on
Dispute Resolution have funded her research projects. Topics have included human
memory, hypnosis, jury behavior, jury comprehension, cognition and health.